Best Grilled Cheese Recipes

Grilled cheese has long been one of my "comfort foods." It is a pretty good combination, bread and cheese. So I was thinking, why not add chocolate?

This speaks to the kid in all of us, yet satisfies adult tastes with good-quality aged Gruyère and a homemade roasted-tomato soup. I like to rest the sandwiches on the rim of the soup cup (The New York Times was so taken with this idea that they ran a feature on it). One of my trademarks is my home-baked bread made especially for mini sandwiches, burger buns, or rolls. If you don’t have the time (or inclination), you can still pull off this fun bite: simply use sliced sandwich bread and a 2-inch square cookie cutter and voilà — instant minis.

The spring 2013 issue of Culture Magazine: The Word on Cheese has one seriously confused-looking grilled cheese on its cover. What happened? Grilled cheese may be one of the world's simplest sandwiches, and the food stylist put the cheese in the wrong place — on the outside of the bread. Of course, I kid. The feature recipe, for the "Inside-Out Grilled Cheese" from Edzo’s Burger Shop in Chicago, could barely be more brilliant. Grilled cheese: with twice the cheese. That said, I found the suggestion to use American cheese a bit, well, insulting — call me a cheese snob — and accordingly created my own rendition. The inside: slivers of green tomato sandwiched between slices of white Cheddar. And the outside: a generous smear of butter, plus an even more generous sprinkling of grated Gruyère. The extra cheese turns into a delightfully crispy crust, much like an Italian frico.  Click here to see 12 Jazzed-Up Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipes for Grown-Ups (and Kids, Too).

Bacon, tomato, and avocado are the perfect ingreidents for an adult grilled cheese sandwich.Click here to see 10 Great Bacon and Avocado Recipes

So many people are trying to jazz up their grilled cheese recipes these days – and while I’m not hating it – I can’t resist a good old-fashioned grilled cheese. I like using sourdough bread for mine because I feel it gives the perfect amount of crunch. The use of American cheese pays homage to my Kraft singles days, while the Cheddar spruces things up a bit. Don’t shy away from the mayonnaise either, I promise it’ll taste like a regular grilled cheese, with just an extra hint of flavor and a lot more texture.